Category

Hidden art

Feeling hypnotized? Certainly, this mural was meant to play with your vision. It appeared recently on the back side of Gym 5, and is by a local artist who goes by Sterbo (or terbosterbo). This alleyway is a busy place for art. Turn around from looking at this mural and you’ll see the one in Panda sky, and just to the left is a set of elaborate graffiti tags that cover what used to the elaborate graffiti tags found in Back in the alley. I’ll blog about the new tags sometime soon. This particular wall has seen a series of not very interesting scribbled tags. With some exceptions, taggers tend to be respectful of murals, so maybe the new mural will put a stop to that. In the meantime, it’s here to mess with your head. The symbol at the end is one used by Sterbo as something of a signature (see photos below).

Located at 952 Main Street. The installation is in fact in the alley, which can be accessed from 10th Street or McFerrin Avenue. There is some parking in this alley if you are just visiting.

Normally I would try to avoid posting a photo of a mural with stuff piled in front of it, but the tables and chairs on this patio at Gabby’s Burgers & Fries are a permanent part of the decor. Gabby’s opened in 2009 in what for many years had been the site of the historic Hap Townes restaurant beloved by many. Seriously, click right now and read that article by one of Nashville’s greatest writers, Tim Ghianni. I’m sorry I never got a chance to eat there, but apparently, the burgers at Gabby’s are pretty good. Along with a new menu came new art. The website link for the artist Vince Herrera painted on the mural is dead, but it wasn’t too hard to track down his Facebook and Instagram pages. On Instagram, you can see a fewphotosthatshow the process and reveal a few features now blocked by furniture, as well as telling us that Herrera has help from Mari Cristina. Apparently, this mural went up in July 2013. I’ve driven by that spot many times, but only noticed it recently. From the road, it is in something of a blink-and-you-miss-it spot. Take the time to look behind buildings – sometimes there’s art back there!

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Located at 493 Humpries Street. The restaurant is actually at the corner of Chestnut and Hagan streets, near Greer Stadium, while its parking lot faces Humphries. The mural is on the back side of the building. There is parking at Gabby’s and nearby side streets.

Such is the name of this mural on the backside of PopStart on Gallatin Road. PopStart is a new gallery (you’ll find their Facebook page and their Instagram page more informative than the website). Dävid La Rosa is an artist featured at PopStart who produced this mural. Much of his work features animals and sacred geometry. This piece, with its butterfly shape and its geometric designs, seems to be something of both. “SDG” is a reference to a long quote about gratitude you’ll find on his webpage: “I am thankful for the inexhaustible Love that surrounds my going out and my coming in, for the good health that I enjoy; for the possibilities of realizing worthy goals. I am grateful for the endless creativity available to me by the sempiternal wisdom of the Name, for being led to fields of green pastures daily. I am grateful today and always, that I am indeed wealthy” -SDG. The damaged hashtag should read “#limbism.”

Located at 4110 Gallatin Pike. The mural lies on the back side of the building. There are narrow driveways on both sides of the building that lead to some limited parking, and there are a few spaces in front. You could also conceivably park at the Mapco next door.

Many people have seen the hemp mural by Mobe Oner (No of course it’s not marijuana! Why would you think that?) on Gallatin on the north side of the CBD oil dispensary LabCanna. Less visible is the much larger mural on the backside of the building, done around the same time. This mural has many artists, including Mobe Oner but also Chris “Zidekahedron” Zidek and Folek, and apparently others. There are some signature tags on the west side (see detail below). The bespectacled man with the two laser-eyed kittens on his shoulder is Bubbles, part of the cast of the Trailer Park Boys, something of a multi-media comedy crew. I’m calling this hidden art just because you’re unlikely to see it if you don’t drive down the alley behind LabCanna. There’s a lot of art in town found in less visible places.

Located at 1006 Gallatin Ave. There is parking in front and behind, as well as on side streets.

Sometimes art can be near a very busy spot and still be a little hidden. This piece by @maczorgan apparently went up in August 2017 and lies on a very busy stretch of Charlotte I drive down a lot. But, it faces away from Charlotte. Had I not had to take a detour, I would not have seen it. I thought about titling this post based on some riff about lipstick on a pig, but I couldn’t figure how to get the catfish in. So I went with The Ridge’s slogan instead. The Ridge is a primarily a pork barbeque and fried catfish place, but they have other stuff as well, like fish tacos. I can personally vouch for their Mexican street style corn.

Located on 333 54th Avenue North, just south of Charlotte Avenue. Technically, the mural is on the property of the Citgo next door, which is on the corner of 54th and Charlotte. There is street parking on 54th and parking at The Ridge, so grab some grub and enjoy the art!

The new dawn – that’s what El Nuevo Amanecer means. An interesting name for a bar, particularly since it’s not clear it’s even a going concern. Their Facebook page shows that they had a couple of shows last year, but nothing since September. The only review is from someone complaining about the noise. And this site that keeps track of business licenses lists Nuevo Amanecer as “Inactive Dissolved.” The artist is also mysterious. While I would guess whoever did this is likely one of the artists who specialize in decorating Latino businesses, those artists not only usually sign their work but add their phone number as well, in case you want to hire them. There’s nothing on this one. Given this is just a few blocks from the future soccer stadium, I imagine some developer will snatch it up soon enough. Get your selfies soon.

Located at 398 Rosedale Avenue. This is at the corner of Nolensville Road, along the 2200 block behind Restaurante El Paraiso. There is plenty of parking.

Some of the very first posts on this blog were about the Norf Wall project at the old tire factory at the corner of 19th and Heman (you can read a description of it in the first post about the project, Part 1). The last few pieces I had not yet gotten around to posting about are mostly unsigned ones, but it turns out this piece does have a signature, from Adam Hale, a local artist. You can read something about his approach and hear it from himself in this profile on Raw. Sadly, a lot of the art in this series is hard to see now. The art in the interior courtyard, like this one, is mostly blocked from view as the courtyard has come to be used as a major storage area.

See the pin for Part 1 on the map. Located at the north end of the 800 block of 19th Street N., at the corner of Herman Street. It’s impossible to miss. Street parking is very haphazard. There is a lot of art to see here, and also a lot of overgrown weeds (depending on the time of year) so wear the right shoes!

There’s mixed media, and then there’s mixed media. The sculpture of a stack of books at the Downtown Library featured in Heavy reading is made from stones from five continents. “Camino y Raíces/Roots & Routes” in Azafrán Park contains coins from no less than 77 countries. Azafrán Park, which opened in August, is the result of a partnership between Conexión Américas and Metro Parks and Recreation, among others. It sits on the north side of Casa Azafrán, where the Park building featured in Color me gone – soon once stood. It serves to provide a community space, particularly for children, in a section of town that has little open green space. This piece was produced by Jairo Prado in collaboration with students from the Opportunity Now program. As explained in this Nashville Arts interview with Prado, the students came from Glencliff, Nashville School for the Arts, Overton, and Hume Fogg. The mural, by its title and its coins from many lands, speaks to the different origins of many Nashvillians, particularly the immigrant community along Nolensville and Murfreesboro Pikes. Prado of course also designed and led the production of the mosaic that adorns the front of Casa Azafrán, Migration. The coins for this mural were collected at Casa Azafrán, in the community and even at the airport! This is a bit of an art hotspot. The mosaic faces the giant photo mural from Oz Arts Inside/Out, Part 1. The mural featured in Hidden away is really hidden now, as there is a concrete wall in front of it, but it can still be glimpsed from the side and through some holes in the wall. And there’s a mural on that concrete wall I’ll feature later, as well as some mobile giant snails from Cracking Art and a colorful block arrangement for kids to play on. All of it will probably be on the blog eventually.

Located at 2187 Nolensville Pike. There is parking in front and behind Casa Azafrán.

Once upon a time, Red Bicycle Coffee could be found on Gallatin Road, just up the street from La Hacienda. They have since decamped up the road, and are now found across from Casa Azafrán (and a couple other places). They left behind some murals in the backyard, which the new business in the space seems to have embraced. Which makes some sense, given that one of the images is a giant cat, and the new folks in the space are Mewsic Kitty Cafe, which allows patrons to interact with foster kitties waiting for adoption. I have only been able to ascertain that these murals were done by a former Red Bicycle employee so if anyone knows the artist, please comment. The stencil of a cat going through a pet door is fairly recent, presumably by another artist, and the sign out front was designed by Alpha-Tone Design.

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Located at 2519 Nolensville Pike. The murals face the alley in back, which can be accessed from Grandview Avenue. There is a fair amount of parking.